The video for Ocean Breathes Salty is now online. It's not as good as the one for Float On. I hope this isn't the beginning of the end for them.

Well, at least it's widescreen.

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We often went to the cinema, the screen would light up and we would tremble, but also, increasingly often, Madeleine and I were disappointed. The images had dated, they jittered, and Marilyn Monroe had gotten terribly old. We were sad, this wasn't the film we had dreamed of, this wasn't the total film that we all carried around inside us, this film that we would have wanted to make, or, more secretly, no doubt, that we would have wanted to live.

I too have been listening to them since Lonesome Crowded West. It is a blessing a man this talented with such an ego and wonderful rock star tendencies to finally make the money he deserves. Sharing with the MTV crowd? I'm sure he's sick of sharing a run down van doubling as his hotel room every night with his other band members. Every talented musical artist should get what's due to them and it's Brock's turn this year. At 25 I'm too old to want to keep my favorite bands my little secrets. Wouldn't the world be a better place if all the kids were listening to bands like Modest Mouse and not Godsmack? Apparently not, because record snobs will have nothing to feel special about.

Good job, Modest Mouse. I'm glad the quality music you've been making for the past many years has finally allowed you to live comfortably and you are being rewarded for it.

When they performed Ocean Breathes Salty on SNL last night, they did pretty well.

Really makes me want to see them live.

How many albums do they have?

All I have is...

Everywhere and His Nasty Parlor Tricks Building Nothing Out of SomethingGood News For People Who Like Bad NewsThis is a Long Way To Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think AboutLonesome Crowded WestThe Moon and Anarctica

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"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

Modest Mouse - This Is A Long Way To Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About

Quote from: I

Hey, me too.

Quote from: Walrus

It's my favorite album of theirs, how about you?

So glad you asked.

Long Way is one of the harder ones to get into, IMO. Not that I don't like it, but it seems as if the album is so continuous that it's hard to distinguish the songs at first. My favorite is The Moon and Antarctica Lonesome Crowded West. I can play it them over, and over, and over again, straight through, no problem. Just got Building Nothing Out Of Something the other day along with the rest of their other albums I didn't have. Building just blew me away. Other People's Lives is amazing. Reminded me of Trailer Trash -- almost the same notes used in the instrumental. I really love a lot of tracks on their new album (besides the obvious three, I like Bury Me With It, Bukowski, The View [prolly my favorite ever -- the bridge (2:45-3:20) is perfect bliss, apt considering the song], Blame It On The Tetons, and Black Cadillacs) even though a lot of people seem to not like the direction they took. Even Interlude (Milo) has something unique to offer, and reminds me of stuff I heard on Sad Sappy Sucker.

I could write pages on how great I think these guys are, but I'll spare you unless anyone wants to talk about it. All I'll say is I was first introduced to Modest Mouse by a friend, about the same time this thread was started. She told me to check out 3rd Planet, Trailer Trash, and Polar Opposites. I owe her something for it. 3rd Planet was the first song that really stuck, and of course, I loved Float On immediately as did everyone else, it seems. My brother told me that recently The OC has features some of Modest Mouse's music, and they guest starred, performed in a bar. I don't know if it's a high or a low. They played The View during the episode, but it was marred by drunken dialogue and then cut short. The good? The World At Large (most of it) played over the last minutes of the episode. And it actually kinda fit, or so my bro says.

So I think I've heard all their stuff now. 8 9 Albums. Unless I'm missing something. I was missing something if you count their concert bootleg Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again. Not really counting any collaborations. It just sucks that at their pattern for producing albums, it'll be either late 2005 or early 2007 before they finish a new album. And hopefully it'll be longer than their current release. Truckers Atlas and The Stars Are Projectors are two of my favorites not just because of how ambitious they are, but how they really actually work as epics. Atlas is a bit too long (but still it fits for the subject), but The Stars Are Projectors is perfect.

There's nothing like seeing a band you love live. And after what's probably been the worst two months of my life, tonight was like being reborn. Isaac Brock has gotta be the second coming. I wish they would've played more older stuff (would've loved to hear Teeth Like God's Shoeshine live -- I probably would've died on the spot -- also, they started to kick in with the drums from Truckers Atlas before hitting up another song. Horrible, horrible tease. That, or The Stars Are Projectors would've been very welcome), but what they chose was to be expected, so I was happy.

Bury Me With ItGreat opening, one of my favorite MM songs. Don't know if it tops the recorded version, because there's so many subtleties that kinda get mucked up live, but still a great way to start.

Ocean Breathes SaltyThe live version of this, anywhere, destroys the recorded version. It's a song that needs the energy and urgency of a live performance, and the CD doesn't have that. See the SNL performance for an example. But this one killed.

The ViewOne of MM's best songs, but it was a bit lackluster and off-key here. The bridge was still as beautiful as always. Apt for me. "If life's not beautiful without the pain then I'd rather never ever even see beauty again."

Never Ending Math EquationSo happy they played this one. It's an MM staple, and was listening to it in the car on the way there hoping they'd hit it. They knocked it out of the park, and the place practically exploded when they hit the ending.

The Good Times Are Killing MeNice leisurely chill song to relax everyone. Funny seeing all the pot smoke drift up as they're playing, and the crowd cheer on the LSD line.

Here It ComesA wildcard, a happy surprise. Would've liked to see more potpourri songs like this. You can tell who the true fans are by looking around and seeing who's singing to songs like this.

Float OnFan favorite, of course the place went crazy when this drums kicked in. Not much to say.

Satin In A CoffinSome songs really benefit from a live performance. This is one of them. It's lackluster on the CD, but the anger really came out tonight. Good to scream really loudly when you've been fucked over by someone you didn't think would let you down.

Well you disappeared so oftenlike you dissolved into coffee. Are you here right now or are there probably fossils under your meat?

Are you dead or are you sleepin'? Are you dead or are you sleepin'? Are you dead or are you sleepin'? GOD I SURE HOPE YOU ARE DEAD!!!

Therapeutic and chilling, too.

BukowskiAnother song that benefits from the energy of a live performance. Banjo really kills here. It's one of those songs that first stands out on the album then fades under the weight of mammoths like Bury Me With It and The View, but tonight resurrected my appreciation of it.

The World At LargeIt was amusing seeing Isaac sit down at the keyboard and smoke a cigarette while playing this. Not a favorite of mine, but a general crowd pleaser. Nice and soothing.

Tiny Cities Made Of AshesIt took me forever to catch on to what this song was when they first started playing it. It sounds so different live. The hook was totally unrecognizable, and it took like a minute for them to get to the lyrics. The place went pretty crazy, though, under the spell of the power of the chorus.

Black CadillacsAnother great angry song, made better live. Some Modest Mouse songs, if they hit you just right, can evoke such intense feelings, kinda like the stuff of Radiohead, too.

Ocean Breathes Salty and Float On do this, too. They give hope in the midst of sadness. Satin In A Coffin and this song help purge anger.

I didn't die and I ain't complainin'. I ain't blamin' you. I didn't know that the words you said to me meant more to me than they ever could you? I didn't lie and I ain't sayin' I told the whole truth. I didn't know that this game we were playin' even had a set of rules.

Cowboy DanIf they couldn't find it in themselves to play Trailer Trash or Teeth Like God's Shoeshine, at least they played this gem. I didn't take to it when I first heard it, but it's gotten better and better over the years. A great audience helps, and there's nothing like hearing an auditorium full of people shout:

Standing in the tall grassThinking nothingYou know we need oxygen to breatheOxygen to breatheEvery time you think you're walking you're just moving the groundEvery time you think you're talking you're just moving your mouthEvery time you think you're looking you're just looking down

...segues into:

This Devil's WorkdayI was very impressed with how seamlessly they moved between songs here without skipping a beat. That said, another song I'm not wild about, but I enjoyed it here.

They said thank you and goodnight, people cheered the requisite 5-10 minutes before they came back out and gave their...

Encore:

Dramamine / Life Like WeedsCrowd went nuts when Isaac came back on stage, and even crazier when they hit the hook to this gem. Nothing really to say. A really great song to zone out and get high to, which was easy enough for everyone there anyway. I don't know how they did it, but at the end they broke into a couple lines of Life Like Weeds' chorus. Wished they would've played the whole thing. This is another song that if the mood catches you right, if you're really sad, you can find yourself misty.

All this talking all the time of the yearFills up until there's nothing left to breatheAnd you think you feel most everythingAnd you know that our hearts are just made out of stringsTo be pulledStrings to be pulledSo you think you've figured out everythingBut we know that our hearts are just made out of stringsTo be pulledStrings to be pulledAll this talking all the time, and the airFills up until there's nothing left to breatheUp until there's nothing left to speakUp into the better parts of space

BrokeNot a huge fan of this one, though most MM fans seem to like it. Fits, I guess, for the broken glassed, broken hearted, sad sappy suckers that make up their contingency. I can relate, after reviewing the lyrics.

BreakthroughThe smile on my face as this song exploded through the speakers was the real breakthrough. The night was over too fast, but it was the perfect hopeful ending note.

Let it breakthrough, oh let breakthrough [x4]Open the curtain and let in some skyIt's almost half past two AM, you can tell by the lightOpen your window, and let in the atmosphere!

Fuck films, I'm gonna become a groupie and see these guys over and over and over again.

"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye